Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area in McNeal, AZ, where the sandhill cranes roost in the winter. We also saw black phoebe, snow geese, tundra swans, ladder-backed woodpeckers, cardinals, several duck and hawk varieties, and heard some owls. Never imagined myself as a birder, but this place is incredible!
You can overnight in the loop and there’s overflow camping down the road if the loop is full, best to come at sunrise and sunset between December and March, maybe avoid Saturdays if you want fewer humans. It’s very near Tombstone and Bisbee if you’re heading that way.
This is our third visit to Whitewater Draw, last time we learned not to come before December (the mosquitos outnumber the birds), this time we realized that we keep coming back chasing a repeat of our first experience, which was incredible. I think whenever we’re in the area we’ll just always stop by. Even if it’s not the same as that first time, it’s still pretty amazing.
